Moore Launches Literacy Through Photography Project

Wendy Ewald Literacy Through Photography

For Immediate Release
September 8, 2010

(Philadelphia, PA) This fall, The Galleries at Moore are pleased to launch an exciting new outreach initiative, Literacy Through Photography, in collaboration with photographer and educator Wendy Ewald, Moore and the Art Education programs at the College.

Literacy Through Photography, a nationally-recognized arts curriculum inspired by Ewald, encourages children to explore their world as they photograph scenes from their own lives, and then to use their images as catalysts for verbal and written expression.

In the early 1970s, Wendy Ewald, a MacArthur “genius” award-winning artist and educator, was one of the early pioneers in investigating collaboration as part of her artistic practice. In handing the camera over to her subjects in what started as a documentary investigation of places and communities connected to teaching, she opened the world of photography to an unexpected group of children from developing nations and disadvantaged communities.

With significant grants from The William Penn Foundation and the Institute of Museums and Library Services Museums for America, the LTP project consists of multiple components. Starting first as a collaboration with ArtsRising schools, Literacy Through Photography kicks off this fall with workshops and teacher training at Moore led by Ewald and staff from Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies where LTP is officially administered.

Moore’s art education faculty and staff will also receive training as the basis of building Literacy Through Photography into Moore’s art education curriculum. Teachers from three ArtsRising middle schools will incorporate LTP in the second half of the school year starting in January 2011, supported in their classrooms by student teachers in Moore’s art education program.

A teacher and student Blog will provide interaction between teachers at the schools and document the process. At the end of the school year, a catalogue documenting student writing and photography created through LTP in schools will be produced in conjunction with an exhibition of student work held at Moore from May to July, 2011.

“My Philadelphia: People, Places and Things” will be a special interactive website inspired by Literacy Through Photography that invites broader community participation in creating personalized portraits of the city by sharing photographs and stories related to themes of neighborhood, community and family.

In the fall of 2011, working with existing community-based organizations in the communities around the ArtsRising schools and Philadelphia-based teaching artists, Moore will expand its current after-school and community programs using Literacy Through Photography as inspiration. Ewald will create a special project of collaboratively made images that respond to the diverse issues and concerns that exist neighborhood to neighborhood. This project will feature an “insertion” of photos and texts into public spaces as a way of creating a dialogue of significance to that community.

Each component of the project will be documented to create additional resources for arts educators to introduce the curriculum into their teaching practice.

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Moore College of Art & Design educates students for inspiring careers in art and design. Founded in 1848, Moore is the nation's first and only women's art college. Moore's career-focused environment and professionally active faculty form a dynamic community in the heart of Philadelphia's cultural district. The College offers nine Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees for women. A coeducational Graduate Studies program was launched in summer, 2009. In addition, Moore provides many valuable opportunities in the arts through The Galleries at Moore, a Continuing Education Certificate program for adults, the 91-year-old acclaimed Youth Art Program for girls and boys grades 1-12, The Art Shop and the Sculpture Park. For more information about Moore, visit www.moore.edu.

September 8, 2010
This fall, The Galleries at Moore are pleased to launch an exciting new outreach initiative, Literacy Through Photography, in collaboration with photographer and educator Wendy Ewald, Moore and the Art Education programs at the College.